End may be nigh for fallen champ Rice

Australia's Stephanie Rice competes in the women's 200m individual medley heats swimming event at the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Park in London on July 30. (AFP)

Australia's Beijing triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice said she will take a break from swimming and consider whether to continue after a frustrating London Games.

Rice, 24, was unable to defend her 200/400m medley titles in the face of Chinese wonder teen Ye Shiwen's domination of the events.

The Australian battled back the tears after just missing out on a bronze medal in Tuesday's 200m medley final as she spoke about the difficulty of her Olympic preparation beset by shoulder trouble.

"I need to take a break to get my head back in the right frame of mind," Rice told reporters. "I'd hate to make a rapid decision on quitting the sport which a few people do.

"I've always said I could never be someone who quits and comes back to the sport.

"If I think it's time to move on, if it's time to end ... I'd hate to finish on the disappointment, but at the same time I'm proud of what I have achieved in my swimming career and really happy with the person I have turned into after this really hard prep.

"It's tough. I'm in a really tough position now having to analyse what I want to do because I love swimming and I love competing and representing Australia.

"But if preparations are going to be like the one I just had, there is just no way in the world I can keep it up. It was really tough."

Rice, the golden girl of the pool at the last Beijing Games with three golds, has had to battle a debilitating shoulder injury over the past few years.

"There's no excuses for the way I have prepared in these last few weeks," she said.

"Obviously it has been far from an ideal preparation and lot different to my Beijing one."